Nurse perspectives in the emergency department: The synergy tool in workload management and work engagement.

Aim: To explore emergency nurses' perceptions of how a nurse-driven patient needs assessment tool, the synergy tool, influenced their workload management.

Background: Quadruple Aim, particularly the fourth aim of improved staff work experiences, served as the conceptual framework to engage nurses in a participatory action research project. This project took place between 2017 and 2020 in two tertiary care emergency departments in one large Canadian city.

Surveys conducted pre- and post-implementation of a synergy tool: Giving voice to emergency teams.

Aim: To investigate the impact of a patients' needs assessment (synergy tool) on emergency department nurses' perceptions of quality, safe care delivery and morale.

Background: The synergy tool provides real-time data on types of patients, their arrival, management and discharge. This tool was introduced to two urban emergency departments in response to government priorities to reduce emergency department wait times and improve patient flow.

Using the Synergy Tool to Determine Regina Emergency Department Staffing Needs.

This article describes a three-year project between nurse researchers, the Saskatchewan Health Authority, the provincial nurses' union and nurses and leadership from two Regina tertiary care emergency departments. The purpose of the project was to create staffing guidelines based on patients' priority care needs. A patient needs assessment tool - the synergy tool - was used to categorize patients' acuity and dependency needs.